The final item on the Navajo Nation Council’s Budget and Finance Committee agenda was the Committee’s approal of an invitation from the Confluence Partners, LLC, of Scottsdale, Ariz., to tour the partners’ proposed Grand Canyon Escalade Project.

Confluence partner Jennifer Tallman presented the invitation to the Committee today, 9-26-13.

After a brief discussion by the Committee, B&F Chairperson LoRenzo Bates informed Tallman that the Committee could do the tour the week of Oct. 14, 2013, and so she should identify a couple of possible days for the week of Oct. 14 and provide those dates to the Committee.

According to a Sept. 3, 2013, letter to B&F Committee Chairperson Bates from Confluence partner Eunice L. Tso, the “field trip” would begin about 9 a.m. and end about p.m. The starting point would either be the Flagstaff Little America hotel or the Twin Arrows Casino & Resort. Since the drive to the proposed Grand Canyon Escalade Project takes about 3 hours, there would be a rest stop at the Cameron Trading Post.

Tso stated to Bates, “The purpose of the field trip is to provide a basic understanding of project so that the Committee will be prepared for a full presentation at a later date.”

Tso’s letter was copied to B&F Committee Vice Chairperson Jonathan Nez and Committee members Danny Simpson, Lorenzo Curley and Mel Begay, Managing Partner Lamar L. Whitmer and Partner Jennifer Tallman.

Tallman also provided the B&F Committee with the Arizona Office of Tourism’s two page report on Travel and Tourism Works for Arizona. Tallman pointed out that about $18.3 billion is spent by visitors in Arizona and that about $2.7 billion in local, state and federal states is generated by Arizonnans employed by tourism jobs.